{"id":1940,"date":"2026-08-15T08:20:42","date_gmt":"2026-08-15T08:20:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/civilsocietypost.com\/?p=1940"},"modified":"2026-08-15T11:09:36","modified_gmt":"2026-08-15T11:09:36","slug":"afghan-ngo-workers-disappeared","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/civilsocietypost.com\/?p=1940","title":{"rendered":"Taliban Accused of Forcibly Disappearing Six Afghan NGO Workers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Six Afghan NGO workers have been forcibly disappeared<\/strong> for nearly a month after Taliban authorities detained them in Kabul, Human Rights Watch said in a statement published on 13 August 2026. The men work for the Women and Children Legal Research Foundation, an organization providing assistance, research and advocacy on women\u2019s and children\u2019s rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Human Rights Watch said Taliban officials had provided no information about the workers\u2019 whereabouts, condition or any charges. The organization called for access by family members and legal counsel and said the men should be released immediately unless they are charged with a recognizable criminal offense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Office raid preceded the detentions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to the HRW account, Taliban security forces raided the foundation\u2019s Kabul office on 21 June and confiscated laptops and phones. Staff were subsequently questioned about their work and the office was sealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On 18 July, officials allegedly instructed six male staff members to return to the office to collect the confiscated equipment. HRW said the men were instead taken into custody and their families have since received no information about where they are being held.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Civil society work under pressure<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Women and Children Legal Research Foundation works on issues affecting women and children in Afghanistan. HRW placed the detentions in the broader context of restrictions imposed since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021, including limits on women\u2019s education, employment and movement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The organization also reported that two Afghan employees of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan were detained in Herat on 9 August. These are separate cases, but HRW said they add to concerns about the safety of humanitarian and civil society personnel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The allegations in the HRW publication have not been independently verified by Civil Society Post. No response from Taliban authorities was included in the official source article.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>HRW says six Afghan NGO workers supporting women\u2019s and children\u2019s rights have been missing since their detention in Kabul.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1945,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[127],"tags":[53,41,168,39,268,239],"class_list":["post-1940","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-civic-space","tag-civil-society","tag-freedom-of-expression","tag-human-rights","tag-sustainable-development","tag-united-nations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/civilsocietypost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1940","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/civilsocietypost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/civilsocietypost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/civilsocietypost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/civilsocietypost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1940"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/civilsocietypost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1940\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1951,"href":"https:\/\/civilsocietypost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1940\/revisions\/1951"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/civilsocietypost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1945"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/civilsocietypost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/civilsocietypost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/civilsocietypost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}